According to EP 0,708,896 a stepless or nearly steplessly variable, continuous-mesh, planetary-gear transmission is known that has an input element, an output element, and a plurality of separate gears that together form a satellite wheel that is in continuous mesh with a central sun gear. If the relationship of the effective radii of the satellite wheel and the sun gear and the relative eccentric position of the satellite wheel and the sun gear are varied relative to each other by appropriate mechanism, the speed ratio between the input and output elements is correspondingly varied. The gears forming the satellite wheel move cyclically when set eccentrically through a force-transmitting load path and a no-load path, the gears on the one hand orbiting about the satellite-wheel axis and on the other hand being constrained by one-way clutches to only rotate in one direction about their own axes. On transitioning from the no-load path to the force-transmitting path the wheels are blocked and thus transmit the angular force applied to them. Any irregularity in the torque transmission is at least partially compensated out by varying the radii of the force-transmitting path and/or the effective tangential components by a cyclical variation. In an actual embodiment that is described in this reference, the coupling elements are mounted on the periphery of the drive element and can move in different paths established by output-side radial grooves. The coupling elements are here made to mesh via various direction-dependent force and/or mesh effects so that at any time that coupling element transmits the torque that leads to the highest peripheral speed in the output element. Thus the other coupling elements shift automatically to the “passing mode,” that is uncoupled. The transmission described in EP 0,708,896 and similar direction-dependent transmissions have the inherent disadvantage that as a result of the automatic shift to freerunning the transmission always produces higher output speeds and cannot produce a ratio giving a lower output speed.